Nevada: Make Lake Tahoe more development-friendly, or we'll leave

You've seen those "Keep Tahoe Blue" bumper stickers. Maybe there's a new sticker in the works that also expresses an activist clarion for the lake -- but with a different kind of agenda: "Keep Tahoe Friendly for Big Business."

That's the motive said to lurk behind a state law passed that directs the two-state consortium overseeing Lake Tahoe to, well, not be so environmentally conscious and green and all that stuff and, come on, guys, be nicer to our big developer friends in Nevada. From the Sacramento Bee:

The state line cuts through the middle of Lake Tahoe, and for 40 years, California and Nevada have worked closely to protect the lake's world-famous clarity and alpine beauty.

Now the Silver State has adopted a new law that may rub out all that cooperation.

The law, Senate Bill 271, was signed by Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval on June 17. Unless certain conditions are met, it directs Nevada in 2015 to withdraw from the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, the powerful government entity that has long united the two states to manage urban development, the leading threat to water quality.

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Those conditions in the new law are far from trivial.

To avoid Nevada's withdrawal, California must agree to amend the TRPA bylaws in a way that could give Nevada more voting power, and also force it to consider economic effects. This would require legislation in California and in Congress.